Over a third of us (35%) haven’t visited the dentist in more than 18 months and one in ten hasn’t been for more than five years. Just 13% admit to staying away for fear of the drill. However, for almost a third, it is the high cost of treatment that stops them from visiting the dentist and a further third (34 per cent) have not registered with a local dentist.

The survey, examining our oral hygiene habits, also reveals that a lack of available NHS treatment is causing people to travel further for their dental treatment. So highly-valued is NHS treatment that, on average, a UK adult would travel nine miles to secure a place with an NHS dentist.

These journeys, or “dental miles”, increase to as many as 16 for the people of Aberystwyth or 13 for Geordies.

Prepared to travel the most “dental miles” to register with an NHS dentist:

Head of Tesco Dental Insurance, Jeremy Sutton, commented: “Far from being a nation of ‘dentophobes’, the research actually suggests we are prepared to go the extra mile, or even ten, in order to receive affordable dental care. Dental health should be a major part of everyone’s daily routine and regular check-ups can actually reduce the risk of needing expensive major procedures.”

3 simple ways to get a low interest credit card

• Improve your credit rating It isn’t beyond your control. Simple things like being registered to vote and having a landline telephone, along with a having demonstrating fiscal responsibility in the past all go a long way to getting a good credit score, which in turn helps when applying for low interest credit cards.
• Use your current credit card if you have one. It may sound silly, but it’s true. Be active in your credit card account and you’ll have a much better chance of qualifying for a balance transfer to a lower interest credit card in the future.
• Be patient If you have never applied for a credit card before, or you have missed repayments on a previous credit card or other type of credit such as a loan, then you probably won’t immediately be offered the lowest interest rate around. However, once you demonstrate that you are a great customer who makes all their repayments (at least the minimum repayment if it’s a credit card, and there’s no pressure to do more than that if you can’t afford to) then you’ll be in a better position to get a low interest credit card in the future.

Credit cards should always be used responsibly. The great thing is that when you do, that tricky time just before the end of the month is no longer a hassle and you can afford to do the things you want to do because you have a financial safety net.

In secret shopper testing, they found that over half of shoppers were given inaccurate information, and also that some firms allow cancellations due to coverage issues while others do not.

Anna Bradley the panel chair said that consumers should be given simple and accurate information before locking themselves into contracts that they might not be able to leave for up to two years.

“We are calling for an across-the-board minimum 14 days to cancel contracts where consumers have coverage problems,” she said.

According to stats from the ONS the UK economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of last year, more than estimated previously.

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